Deadly Bunny & Chubby Penguin: Lung King Heen @ Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Cuisine: Chinese / Cantonese / Dim Sum

Map: Lung King Heen @ Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong - 龍景軒 @ 香港四季酒店

Price: HKD380 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)

Visited: 13 July 2014

Food: 9/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Value for money: 7/10

Services: 8/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

First to be mentioned from Hong Kong trip in July 2014 is the most famous Cantonese restaurant on the islands, Lung King Heen @ Four Seasons Hotel. This is the only Cantonese restaurant to be awarded 3 Michelin Stars which was dated back to 2009. The location is absolutely spotted on which is right at IFC mall at Hong Kong station. At first instance, I did not quite impress with the interior which is kept simply contemporary. At least the good view of harbour is pleasurable. For me, I prefer the decoration and atmosphere of One Harbour Road at Grand Hyatt more.

What I really noticed here is the good and friendly service. For Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, even at 5 stars hotels, you can expect rather rough service for instance Summer Palace at Island Shangri-la which was not bad but not the 2 Michelin stars standard. Anyway, given its 3 stars price tag, it is of course expensive but you will have to judge yourself for value. If you are going to visit, especially during weekends, make sure you do back well in advance.

Lung King Heen @ Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

entrance passage

spacious dining with view of harbour

Chinaware by Narumi

There are quite a number of tea selection to accompany your meal which is ranged from HKD35 to HKD100+ per person. Anyhow, we were there at Lung King Heen for lunch so dishes were mainly dim sum. The range of steamed dim sum are as follows:

steamed chicken and Japanese tofu dumplings with superior pottage (7/10)
steamed lobster and scallop dumpling (8/10)
steamed rice rolls with lobster and water chestnut in fermented bean sauce (8/10)
steamed rice rolls with barbecued pork and mushroom (9/10)

To be honest, these all were pretty yummy and of great quality but not spectacular. The steamed lobster and scallop dumpling was sure lovely but the price tag of HKD 48 per piece was a bit excessive for dim sum in my opinion but yummy still. The one to be recognised was the classic steamed rice rolls with bbq pork and mushroom. It was delivered nicely. The filling was just at the right amount and the sauce had good balance of salty and sweetness.

steamed chicken and Japanese tofu dumplings with superior pottage (HKD66)

steamed lobster and scallop dumpling (HKD48)

steamed rice rolls with lobster and water chestnut in fermented bean sauce (HKD160)

steamed rice rolls with barbecued pork and mushroom (HKD88)

For the baked range, we had:

baked barbecued pork buns with pine nuts (9/10)
baked roast goose puffs with chestnuts in X.O. chilli sauce (7/10)
baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken (9/10)

Ones would not deny the bbq pork bun here, I suppose. I was fluffy and good texture and yummy bbq pork filling. HKD66 for three pieces was sure a dearly cost one but I would not mind ordering the second portion at all. The famous baked abalone puff was as well splendid. This is a must try dish if you love abalone. The puff was light and fluffy while holding the structure. Abalone was well prepared to great tenderness. The baked roast goose puffs, on the other hand, was a bit of disappointment. I don't think the natural taste of goose paired well with puff. But still well made.

baked barbecued pork buns with pine nuts (HKD66)

stuffing of bbq pork bun

baked roast goose puffs with chestnuts in X.O. chilli sauce (HKD66)

baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken (HKD58 each)

zooming up a bit on abalone

Here was the best of the meal: barbecued pork with honey (10/10). This was a perfect bbq honey pork for me. So tender and juicy and not overpowered. I could not really put down my chopsticks with this dish. Next was marinated duck tongue with preserved plum (8/10). This dish was in contrast with another dishes here. It was light and mild. When pairing a touch of chilli sauce, this was another yummy one. I think having both duck tongue and the cucumber together was the magic. Well, you may prefer to have them separately though.

barbecued pork with honey (HKD260)

another angle of bbq pork

marinated duck tongue with preserved plum (HKD180)

Before ending the meal, we had assorted vegetable, tofu sheets and vermicelli in casserole (8/10). This was a light and refreshing soup dish. The tofu sheets were absolutely delicious. It was really a good way to go before ending the meal with rice dish which was fried puntalette with minced beef in X.O. chilli sauce (9/10). Without mentioning, I would just think that this was a good fried rice dish. In fact, puntalette is a kind of pasta that is in rice shape (really first time to have tried puntalette). The matching of minced beef and X.O. sauce is always a classic combination. Love the way that no single flavour stand out but well balance. I did enjoy this dish a lot.

The course ended with some Chinese petit fours which was enjoyable. In brief, dim sum at Lung King Heen was a good experience and is worth a return from time to time: nice food and friendly service but so-so atmosphere. Of course, these good things come at a high price tag for dim sum.